Hans Grade

Who was Hans Grade?

Hans Grade was a German aviation pioneer.

Hans Grade was an engineer and a German aviation-pioneer. On 28 October 1908 he successfully conducted the first motor-flight over German soil in a motorised triplane aircraft of his own construction at Magdeburg.

A year later, on 30 October 1909, flying a new monoplane design he won the 40.000 Reichsmark "Lanz-Preis der Lufte", for the first German to fly a flat "8" in a German aircraft with German engine around two pylons 1000 meters apart, no match for pilots from other nations at that time.

In 1910 he established the first aviation school in Germany.

A Grade monoplane carried Germany's first air mail, when pilot Pentz made a flight from Bork to Bruck in February 1912 with a small sack of mail in his lap. Although successful, Grade monoplanes did not become as famous as many contemporary European designs, and for this reason comparatively few were built.

In 1921 he established an automobile company called "Grade Automobilwerke AG", which produced small, 2 seater personal cars.

The small aircraft company, founded with this money, did not survived the Versaille-agreement of 1918.